Survivor 49 Experienced A Wild (And Dangerous) Franchise First

In its 49th season, "Survivor," the reality competition show originally created by Mark Burnett and now spearheaded by its host Jeff Probst, is still somehow able to break new ground ... but that's not always a good thing. In fact, the third episode of the season featured one of the most potentially dangerous and shocking moments in the history of the entire franchise.

In "Loveable Losers," Jake Latimer, a member of the Kele tribe, was hanging out in the water near his camp — as so many "Survivor" players and crew members are wont to do — when he revealed to his tribemate Alex Moore that he was bitten by something. When they both looked at the reptile that attacked him, Alex immediately broke the fourth wall and sought out a binder full of important information that helps players stay safe in the wilds of Fiji, only to discover that it was a sea krait snake. Sea kraits are highly venomous.

The "Survivor" medical team sprang into action, brought Latimer by boat to base camp, and immediately started treating him with Jeff Probst by his side. This was all extremely frightening, and even though Latimer ultimately recovered — the sea krait doesn't always release venom, and because his bite was a "dry bite," doctors soon established that he would be okay — it marked a horrible first for the franchise. As Latimer, who was medically evacuated as a result of the incident, told Entertainment Weekly's resident "Survivor" expert Dalton Ross, it all happened so quickly.

"My eyes were shut, and it felt like a crab claw on the bottom of my foot, because we were getting bitten by crabs at nighttime sleeping on the beach," Latimer said of the initial bite (which was weird to begin with, because as the show noted, sea kraits typically avoid humans and almost never bite them in the first place).

Latimer continued, "I opened my eyes up and the snake is latched onto the bottom of my foot, mouth wide open. But it didn't hurt at the time. I just felt a tingling kind of sensation. And that's when I yelled to Alex. I'm like, 'Guys, I think this thing just bit me!' Then, as we saw on the show, everything else kind of followed after that." So how does Latimer feel about his incredibly dramatic exit? As it turns out, there was a weirdly wonderful twist at the end of the ordeal.

When Jake Latimer started his run on "Survivor," we learned two things about him as he communicated with his Kele tribemates. First of all, his beloved father is losing his eyesight and always hoped to see his son compete on "Survivor." Second, Latimer's wife was extremely pregnant when he left for Fiji, and he knew that, by participating in the show, he might well miss the birth of his first child.

With all of this considered, Latimer also told Entertainment Weekly that all he could think about in the immediate aftermath of the snake bite was his wife and unborn child. "That's when it gets real, man," Latimer said of the moment that he learned just how dangerous a sea krait bite can be. "Because I don't remember who, but somebody did tell me that that was a very venomous snake and I need to get care, like, now. And when I was lying on that stretcher, man, you saw me say, 'I'm going to be a dad...' I'm getting emotional about it, talking about it right now..."

That's quite understandable, and as Latimer continued talking to the outlet, it becomes clear that he had one priority — and it wasn't "Survivor," which makes sense. "But it's like, I'm going to be a dad. Am I ever going to get off this island?" Latimer recalled. "Am I again going to see my child? Ever am I going to meet my child? And that's when it sunk in, because I had tubes coming out of me. I had oxygen masks on."

Incredibly, Latimer's dramatic story has a happy ending; as he told Dalton Ross, he got home "just under 48 hours" before his son was born. "I think that God put that snake there for a reason, just to get me home," Latimer said. 

Even though he was gutted to leave "Survivor," Latimer is grateful for everything. "And I hate saying that because I wanted that game so bad, but I also got to see the birth of Jax, and that's worth a million dollars. And I was there for my wife. So it's a blessing in disguise," he said. "I'm [otherwise] never going to get that experience back of seeing my kid be born. Even though, like I said, I have unfinished business out there." (Hopefully, Latimer will be included in a future season.)

Anyone who's ever watched "Survivor" knows that Jeff Probst is a pretty unflappable guy most of the time. Even though he'll sometimes get emotional when it's warranted, it's hard, at this point, to fully surprise Probst ... but as he told Dalton Ross for Entertainment Weekly, this experience was "terrifying," and he was incredibly impressed by Jake Latimer's poise during an apparent life-or-death situation. 

"Jake was remarkably calm throughout the entire ordeal. He was in a fair amount of pain from the bite, and he was understandably very concerned as the sea krait is very venomous, which added stress, which exacerbated everything else," Probst recalled. Still, it's never, ever easy to medically evacuate anyone from "Survivor," one must assume ... and even though Latimer's snake bite wasn't venomous, the medical team made the decision to pull him from the game for a few reasons. First, they wanted to observe him at a hospital to ensure his safety, but they also wanted to give him fluids, a meal, and put him in a temperature-controlled building; as the medical team reasoned, this would have given Latimer an outsized advantage had he ultimately returned to the game.

Still, as Probst said, he thinks Latimer was wholly relieved by the medical team's decision. "When we had to tell Jake he was being pulled from the game, it almost felt like relief for Jake," Probst mused. He continued: 

"I think he knew it was coming. The amount of medical attention being paid to him was unmatched in any other evacuation on 'Survivor.' Even if he had been physically able to return, I don't think he would have been emotionally ready. It seemed to me that all his thoughts were on his wife and unborn child. So when he got the news he was being pulled, it was as if he was able to fully breathe for the first time."

Latimer is okay, "Survivor" goes on — even though the player's Kele tribe is, as of this writing, down to just two players — and after all these years, the show is providing more than its fair share of drama. You can stream all previous seasons of "Survivor" on Paramount+ now, and new episodes of "Survivor 49" air every Wednesday at 8 P.M. EST.